The Umayyads were the first Muslim dynasty, established in 661 in Damascus. Their dynasty succeeded the leadership of the first four caliphs—Abū Bakr, ʿUmar I, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī. It was established by Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, a native of Mecca and a contemporary of the Prophet Muḥammad. The Umayyad dynasty lasted less than a century in Damascus before it was driven out in 750 by the ʿAbbāsid dynasty. A remnant of the Umayyad dynasty was resurrected in 756 in Córdoba, Spain, and continued to rule there into the 11th century.
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